eFive Telecoms confident that South Atlantic Express cable will make it into the water

Doubts have arisen about the future of the planned South Atlantic Express (SAex) fibre optic cable after eFive Telecoms, the South African company behind the project, failed to reach its expected financial closure by the end of June.

In an email to A Human Right, Dr. Rosalind Thomas, CEO of eFive Telecoms, said that despite delays caused by the difficult economic environment and a longer than anticipated technical review, her company was still pursuing its due diligence process. Dr. Thomas expressed confidence that the cable worth $280 million would make it into the water, adding that the proposed cable spur to St. Helena was still part of the company's plans.

The planned spur to St. Helena â which requires Â£10 million in funding â would provide two links from the remote island to the outside world: one to South Africa and one to Brazil, with each providing 100 GBit/s of bandwidth. Either one of the new links would be 5000 times faster than St. Helenaâs current 20 MBit/s satellite link.